Last week was one of my housemate's 21st birthdays. To celebrate, we had a tea party and BBQ and I thought it would be a good idea to make a surprise tiered cake, similar to that of the cake at the Mad Hatter's in Alice in Wonderland (Hannah actually dressed up as the Mad Hatter back in October for a fancy dress event, so it all tied in rather nicely!)
This is by far the most challenging cake creation I've attempted - it was a trailing two days to say the least...
Thursday Morning: 29 Hours to Tea Party: Baking Commences
We had planned for a Victoria Sponge base with blue fondant icing, a Caramel Mud Cake Middle with white chocolate icing and a cup cake top tier (Hannah really likes cup cakes) with pink icing.
Aside from having to make extra Victoria Sponge mixture than expected and making twice as much Mud Cake mixture than needed it was all going pretty well.
Thursday Afternoon: 24 Hours to Tea Party: The Cake Begins to Take Shape
In hindsight, three sponges for the bottom tier was probably enough, but we went all out with four, making sure to leave a small indent in the top tier to balance tier number two within it. There were two cakes for the middle tier, which we cut to size using a plastic bowl as a measurer.
All was still going surprisingly well at this point. We used buttercream to stick all the layers together (besides the two jam layers, completing the Victoria Sponge, obviously).
A note to lactose intolerants: I find that sadly soy butter or other substitutes simply don't make as good buttercream, it's just too runny without proper butter.
By the end of day one, the cake was pretty much assembled. At this point we stopped for dinner and a night out celebrating the end of exams... this is when things begin to unravel...
Friday Morning: 6 Hours to Tea Party: Baker Down!
As Friday morning went on, my hang over got worse and worse and worse (to be polite). Eventually, I was forced to return to my bed under the jurisdiction of my boyfriend George who decided I was being no use to anyone and certainly was in no fit state to finish off a giant cake. He stepped into the void and Helen took the reins - or whisk in this case! - as the clock ticked on towards 4pm when the Tea Party would begin.
Friday Afternoon: 1 hour to Tea Party: the Finishing Touches
I awoke (feeling much more human) to find a cake lathered in white chocolate icing, the cup cake in the oven ready to be placed on top. Helen and I set to work with finishing touches. Coloured and fondant icing had been abandoned for the sake of Helen and George's sanity and for the sake of simply getting the cake done in time. A Mad Hatter's Cake it truely was:
I cannot say thank you enough to George and Helen, without whom, there would have been no cake as - to quote George - I was a shambles of a human on Friday. Thank you both so much.
Truth be told, I can't quite bring myself to give the in's and out's on a tiered cake 'how to' just yet or even a Caramel Mud Cake recipe. I will get round to it... just not yet. So for now, content yourselves with the photos and click here for some tuition on tiered cakes instead.
This is by far the most challenging cake creation I've attempted - it was a trailing two days to say the least...
Thursday Morning: 29 Hours to Tea Party: Baking Commences
We had planned for a Victoria Sponge base with blue fondant icing, a Caramel Mud Cake Middle with white chocolate icing and a cup cake top tier (Hannah really likes cup cakes) with pink icing.
Aside from having to make extra Victoria Sponge mixture than expected and making twice as much Mud Cake mixture than needed it was all going pretty well.
Thursday Afternoon: 24 Hours to Tea Party: The Cake Begins to Take Shape
In hindsight, three sponges for the bottom tier was probably enough, but we went all out with four, making sure to leave a small indent in the top tier to balance tier number two within it. There were two cakes for the middle tier, which we cut to size using a plastic bowl as a measurer.All was still going surprisingly well at this point. We used buttercream to stick all the layers together (besides the two jam layers, completing the Victoria Sponge, obviously).
A note to lactose intolerants: I find that sadly soy butter or other substitutes simply don't make as good buttercream, it's just too runny without proper butter.
By the end of day one, the cake was pretty much assembled. At this point we stopped for dinner and a night out celebrating the end of exams... this is when things begin to unravel...
Friday Morning: 6 Hours to Tea Party: Baker Down!
As Friday morning went on, my hang over got worse and worse and worse (to be polite). Eventually, I was forced to return to my bed under the jurisdiction of my boyfriend George who decided I was being no use to anyone and certainly was in no fit state to finish off a giant cake. He stepped into the void and Helen took the reins - or whisk in this case! - as the clock ticked on towards 4pm when the Tea Party would begin.
Friday Afternoon: 1 hour to Tea Party: the Finishing Touches
I awoke (feeling much more human) to find a cake lathered in white chocolate icing, the cup cake in the oven ready to be placed on top. Helen and I set to work with finishing touches. Coloured and fondant icing had been abandoned for the sake of Helen and George's sanity and for the sake of simply getting the cake done in time. A Mad Hatter's Cake it truely was:
I cannot say thank you enough to George and Helen, without whom, there would have been no cake as - to quote George - I was a shambles of a human on Friday. Thank you both so much.
Truth be told, I can't quite bring myself to give the in's and out's on a tiered cake 'how to' just yet or even a Caramel Mud Cake recipe. I will get round to it... just not yet. So for now, content yourselves with the photos and click here for some tuition on tiered cakes instead.
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